Picture this: You’re in a bustling cafe, engrossed in a book. Suddenly, a phrase catches your eye. It says, ‘broaden your horizons.’ You realize that this phrase paints a vivid image of expanding one’s knowledge or experiences. These powerful combinations of words, known as collocations, make English more expressive and meaningful. How amazing would it be to wield such phrases at will, especially when discussing a topic as universal as education? Don’t you want to sound more natural and fluent when talking about learning, teaching, or schooling? Let’s dive right into it!
Here are 33 essential English collocations linked to the broad field of education:
1. Broaden your horizons: To expand your knowledge or experiences.
Example: Studying abroad can really broaden your horizons.
2. A wealth of information: A lot of useful or interesting information.
Example: The library is a wealth of information.
3. Learn by heart: To memorize something perfectly.
Example: He learned the poem by heart for the recital.
4. Brush up on: To improve your knowledge or skill in something that you have already learned but partly forgotten.
Example: I need to brush up on my Spanish before the trip.
5. Burn the midnight oil: To study or work late into the night.
Example: She was burning the midnight oil to finish her thesis.
6. Hit the books: Start studying, especially for a test or exam.
Example: I need to hit the books this weekend for the upcoming exam.
7. In-depth knowledge: Comprehensive and complete knowledge in a particular area.
Example: His in-depth knowledge of world history is impressive.
8. Pass with flying colors: To succeed easily, doing particularly well in a venture.
Example: She passed the final exam with flying colors.
9. Crack a book: Open a book to study (often used in the negative).
Example: He passed the course without even cracking a book.
10. Think outside the box: To think in a creative or different way.
Example: The best scientists often think outside the box.
11. Skip class: Miss a class without an excuse.
Example: If you skip class, you miss important lectures.
12. Fall behind: Fail to keep up.
Example: If you miss a lot of classes, you may fall behind.
13. Drop out: Quit school before graduation.
Example: Unfortunately, financial difficulties forced him to drop out.
14. Catch up: Get up to date.
Example: She’s staying late to catch up on paperwork.
15. Ace a test: To get a very high grade on a test.
Example: She studied hard and aced the test.
16. Keep up with: Stay at the same point or level as somebody/something.
Example: It’s hard to keep up with the latest technology.
17. Grasp the basics: Understand the most essential or basic facts.
Example: Before you start painting, you need to grasp the basics of color theory.
18. Get to grips with: Begin to understand and deal with something difficult.
Example: She’s still trying to get to grips with the new computer system.
19. School of thought: A particular philosophy or way of thinking about something.
Example: There are many different schools of thought on how to best teach children to read.
20. Miss the point: To not understand the main point or idea.
Example: I think you’re missing the point of the story.
21. Piece of cake: Something very easy.
Example: The exam was a piece of cake.
22. Know like the back of your hand: To have a very good and detailed knowledge of something.
Example: He knows the subject like the back of his hand.
23. Learn the ropes: To understand or learn how to do a job or activity.
Example: It took a few weeks for the new employee to learn the ropes.
24. Jump through hoops: To do a lot of extra things so you can have or do something you want.
Example: I had to jump through hoops to get approval for the project.
25. Up to scratch: Reach an acceptable standard.
Example: His latest essay isn’t up to scratch.
26. Catch someone’s eye: To attract someone’s attention.
Example: The course on ancient civilizations really caught my eye.
27. Come up with: Think of (an idea, answer, etc.).
Example: She came up with a great idea for the science project.
28. Get down to: Begin to do something; concentrate on.
Example: It’s time to get down to work.
29. In a nutshell: Briefly, in a few words.
Example: In a nutshell, the theory is flawed.
30. Second to none: The best; better than all others.
Example: Her dedication to teaching is second to none.
31. Play truant: To stay away from school without permission.
Example: His grades fell when he started playing truant.
32. Beat around the bush: Avoid talking about the main topic.
Example: Stop beating around the bush and tell me why you want to change schools.
33. Pass muster: To be good enough; to meet a particular standard.
Example: Her latest research paper just barely passes muster.
Embracing these collocations in your everyday English usage can truly transform your language skills, making you sound more fluent and natural when discussing education-related topics.
